A refrigerator unit is a device intended to store food items at low temperatures. The refrigerator unit may be composed of a refrigerating compartment and a freezer compartment, both of which are configured for storing food and drink for longer periods of time than without refrigeration.
The inside of a refrigerator unit is cooled by supplying cold air of a desired temperature that is continually generated through a heat exchanging operation of a refrigerant based on a refrigeration cycle. The cycle includes a process of compression-condensation-expansion-evaporation. The cold air supplied to the inside of the refrigerator unit is evenly transferred by a convection current to store food and drink items within the refrigerator at a desired temperature.
In general, a refrigerator body of the refrigerator unit has a cuboidal or rectangular shape with an open front side providing access to a refrigeration chamber and a freezer chamber located within the body of the refrigerator unit. Further, hinged doors may be fitted to the front side of the refrigerator body in order to selectively open and/or close openings to the refrigeration chamber and the freezer chamber. In addition, a number of drawers, racks, shelves, storage boxes, and the like may be provided in the refrigeration chamber and the freezer chamber within the refrigerator unit configured for storing various food and items within the interior of the refrigerator unit.
Conventionally, refrigerators were configured as a top mount type in which a freezer chamber is positioned above a refrigeration chamber. Recently, bottom freeze type refrigerators position the freezer chamber below the refrigeration chamber to enhance user convenience. In the bottom freeze type refrigerator, the more frequently used refrigeration chamber is advantageously positioned at the top so that a user may conveniently access the chamber without bending over at the waist, as previously required by the top mount type refrigerator. The lesser used freezer chamber is positioned at the bottom.
However, a bottom freeze type refrigerator may lose its design benefits when a user wants to access the lower freezer chamber on a more frequent basis. For example, prepared ice that is stored in the freezer chamber may be a popular item accessed frequently by a particular user. In a bottom freeze type refrigerator, since the freezer chamber is positioned below the refrigeration chamber, the user would have to bend over at the waist in order to open the freezer chamber door to access the ice. To a frequent ice user, uncomfortably accessing the freezer chamber numerous times may outweigh the benefits of providing ease of access to the refrigeration chamber.
In order to solve such a problem, bottom freeze type refrigerators may include a dispenser configured for dispensing ice that is provided in a refrigeration chamber door. In this case, the ice dispenser is also positioned in the upper portion of the refrigerator unit, and more specifically is located above the freezer chamber. In this case, an ice maker for generating ice may be provided in the refrigeration chamber door or in the interior of the refrigeration chamber.
The ice maker may include an ice making assembly having an ice tray for making ice (e.g., ice cubes), an ice bucket for storing the ice, and a transfer assembly for transferring the ice stored in the bucket to the dispenser. The ice made in the ice making assembly is dropped to the ice bucket positioned at the bottom of the ice tray, and then may be piled up in the inside of the ice bucket.
Meanwhile, the refrigerator unit is an apparatus for keeping food refrigerated at temperatures necessary for storing food. It is very common for the interior of the refrigerator unit to absorb odors from the food being stored. In turn, food and drink items stored in the refrigerator unit may also absorb odors from each other and from odor lingering in the interior. As examples, fermented foods (e.g., kimchi, cheese, and so on) may give off a unique odor typical of fermented foods, and fish may give off a unique fishy smell.
For this reason, a deodorizing device, for filtering smelly odors in the air, may be included within refrigerator units. The deodorizing device circulates air contained within a refrigerator compartment (e.g., refrigeration chamber, freezer chamber, etc.) and then filters the circulated air.
However, according to the prior art, the deodorizing function of the deodorizing device does not reach an inner space of the ice maker, or is ineffective. This is because the ice maker is protected by a case, which separates the interior of the deodorizing device from the interior of the refrigerator unit. That is, filtered air circulating between the deodorizing device and the interior of the refrigerator unit does not filter air within the ice maker.
Further, because the air within the ice maker is unfiltered, once a smelly odor caused by food and drink items has penetrated into the interior of the ice maker, it is difficult to discharge that odor to the exterior of the ice maker. As a result, the ice made and stored within the ice maker may absorb the smelly odor.
What is needed is a way to deodorize air in an ice maker of a refrigerator unit.